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Health: Outreach and Access to Services
Outreach programs attempt to engage individuals who are unserved or underserved by existing agencies, and link them to resources. Many people who are homeless are unaware of what is available. Outreach workers make durable linkages across systems: homeless/non-homeless, youth to adult, and private to public. When these systems are not user-friendly to homeless people, workers advocate for change.

Health care delivery to homeless people can be
challenging due to: lack of insurance; distrust of service-providers; bad experiences with health care in the past; difficulty making and keeping appointments; difficulty with complex medical and follow up care routines; and, lack of understanding or interest in health problems in relation to seemingly more important issues at hand.

Outreach workers can help prepare clients as they begin to access services, and inform staff at those agencies about the client's unique needs, strengths, and interests to hel...p ensure successful transition.

Escorting clients to appointments can be critical if a person is unable to go on his/her own. Staff can help clients by making medical appointments, preparing them for the appointment (getting insurance card/paperwork in order, educating them about what might be expected), advocating for them if needed, translating medical jargon, and helping them follow through with aftercare instructions and appointments. Outreach workers can also be the "eyes" and "ears" on the streets for health care providers. When clients reach a dangerous state of health, outreach workers can elicit assistance from mobile medical outreach staff, or stationary medical staff who are willing to leave a clinic and provide in-vivo services.

Outreach workers play a key role in illness prevention. They provide blankets and socks, help clients access insurance and free medication/medical care, and educate them about topics like safe sex, hepatitis, TB, harm reduction, and nutrition. They can help clients get food and vitamins, obtain past medical records and reconnect with previous service providers who may be familiar with their medical case(s). Outreach workers can also help by being aware of other organizations' involvement in medical care and offer helpful advice to psychiatrists and clinicians that are making decisions about the direction of health care.

In many cases, peer workers (survivors of heath and mental health issues) provide invaluable and effective outreach support. The benefits of hiring survivors as service providers include: empathy and understanding, tolerance of unusual behaviours, ease of relating to service recipients, knowledge of available resources, positive role modelling and a strong sense of responsibility for clients. Peer workers often provide: information and referral, skills training, emotional support, self-exploration, problem identification, goal setting, action planning, and goal attainment monitoring.

AUTHOR: Power, Asetha (2008) Homeless Hub. [Show More][Show Less]


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A Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN) initiative. The CHRN has received financial support from the Government of Canada’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada